The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

Yu Tong skimmed through the computer.

He was inside the rented apartment of the deceased, Tan Ya Yun. Her apartment mates had helped unlock the room and given him the key. After receiving the landlord’s and the family’s permissions, the police had focused on completing a more thorough inspection of the room.

They had not found any useful trails in the deceased’s family home. The deceased did not seem to have a habit of writing a diary and her bedroom had been extremely neat and tidy. There had been nothing but a large amount of short tops and bottoms stored away in the wardrobe, as well as a small amount of cash that had clearly been saved to give to her parents, a sum of nearly a hundred thousand [Taiwan Dollars]. Even after searching through the place, there had been no clues found, which was why they were focusing on the rented apartment, particularly the computer. Although there had already been something similar to a suicide note found in the computer, they had to re-examine the contents of the computer now that suspicious points had appeared.

Thanks to science and technology, people nowadays often had even more secrets in their computers than they did in reality.

Jiu Shen and Ah Liu had come earlier and had already helped Yu Tong break through the computer password and copy everything. Then, the two had taken the deceased’s cellphone and other items back to inspect the communication logs and other records.

A breeze blew through the quiet room, flapping the window curtains.

Having obtained the family’s approval of authorization, he first opened the deceased’s private email records and various other social network sites. This was when he discovered that the deceased had stopped using social media around half a year ago; in addition, before stopping, she would post new photos to share daily. Most were of her dressed in the current female fashion, as well as some with her in make-up and wearing beautiful dresses. She always had happy expressions with all her friends.

However, over the past six months, the social sites had contained pitifully little new content. There were only a few official posts necessary for school. At first, there had been some fellow students asking her why she suddenly stopped updating, with the deceased simply answering that she just found it too troublesome and did not want to use it anymore. As more time passed, the others no longer found it strange.

This was the case with her online chat records as well.

However, as Yu Tong opened the computer logs, he discovered that she had been chatting intimately with an internet friend that should not have been a schoolmate. In these logs, she would occasionally mention that she felt extremely disgusted and terrified, and the internet friend had urged her multiple times to quickly report to the police. However, the deceased would only reply that the other party already had all kinds of data about her; even the students in her social network had become friends with him. He had also threatened her, saying that if she dared to tell anyone, he would post all the photos and other information on the internet for everyone to see, as well as harm her family.

Based on the time stamps and Yan Si’s report, the deceased had already been suffering multiple instances of sexual assault for a long period of time within those six months.

Usually, when a case of sexual assault was discovered, most such scenarios would end up being unkind to the victim. The friends and relatives around them, and even strangers, would not only view them strangely, but also the victim could possibly never recover from the emotional trauma. Yu Tong had been to several trials where the judge’s constant requests for the victim to describe the situation would undoubtedly deepen the victim’s trauma.

Society did not provide appropriate support for these scenarios. Multiple victims would carry the trauma with them for the rest of their lives, and the arrested criminals would soon return to the outside. Due to civil rights, the acts they had committed would not be exposed either. As long as they changed to a new location to live in, nobody would ever know about it; yet the moment the innocent victims were exposed, all kinds of gossip would circulate without end. Those alleged civil rights would not be able to support or guide the victim and those surrounding them, nor help soothe the pain.

It was precisely due to this kind of environment that many victims would choose to endure it silently, wordlessly swallowing everything down and not daring to speak out. If they did, they would likely end up losing face and even suffer from even more threats of various types.

“You’re quite bold. It’s fine, just wait and see what happens after I get out.”

These were words that Yu Tong had once heard a perpetrator tell a victim.

Even though Yu Tong raised a son, as a father, he could not help but feel that if he had a daughter now that had endured something like this, he could never be this level-headed. It was at times like these when he agreed with Yu Xia’s reasoning: to beat the perpetrator so that they could never misbehave again.

Yu Tong surfed through the logs to find that this internet friend had seemed to become acquainted with the deceased at least two years ago; they had met on some type of forum. In the beginning, they had always discussed essays and popular topics. What was strange was that this person’s conversation logs had been set to be hidden files and required passwords to open. All the files had been unlocked by Jiu Shen’s group after they had broken through the computer.

From the conversation tone and style, Yu Tong determined that the other party was probably a male. However, the deceased seemed to have mistaken him as a female, as she would even tell “him” about more private female topics. The strangest part was that the other party never evaded the topics, even providing a few suggestions that were similar to what a female would say. This made Yu Tong somewhat confused about the gender of this internet friend with an unknown background.

Their final exchange was the day before the deceased had jumped off the building. The general contents were:

BBQ:

Go to the police

Xiao Yun:

I don’t dare to. I’m terrified of my mom and dad finding out, how my relatives will talk about me, what that disgusting person will say. Last time…last time, he even…I think men are seriously sick. Why can’t they all just die…

BBQ:

If you don’t have the resolve, I’ll help you

Xiao Yun:

But they have my photos, I don’t know what to do…and you’re not here…I…I really want to kill them…

BBQ:

Kill them. I’ll help make you an alibi

Xiao Yun:

If they don’t die, I should just disappear from this world…

I’m so dirty…I feel so very filthy…

I will go do it. Xiao B, please cheer me up…You’re the only one I can tell these things to…

I’m afraid to tell any of my classmates. I don’t know what will happen if I do, I’ll definitely get ostracized…I’m starting to feel like every time I go to school, everyone already knows. When they all look at me, I’m so scared…

BBQ:

Don’t give up

Kill them all, I’ll help you

Xiao Yun:

I might be the one that dies. If I die, Xiao B, could you help tell my mom and dad that they don’t need to feel sad…But I don’t want to die…But I really do find myself so disgusting…

Thank you for sticking with me these past six months…

But I’m really scared. I don’t want to die…But I don’t want to see them anymore…

I can only tell you because you don’t know who I am…

Really, thank you so much…

And good-bye.

BBQ:

Don’t give up

My group will help you

(Xiao Yun is offline)

Yu Tong searched through the other logs, which did not have much, though a few mentioned the assault. The logs indicated that the deceased and the internet friend had only communicated through the internet and were complete strangers in their private lives. Moreover, they did not talk about who the perpetrator was. They also talked about the uses of cash that had been withdrawn around two weeks prior. That was when the deceased had typed the suicide note-type words, as well as mentioned to the internet friend that she was considering suicide and that she would leave the money in her home. If something really did happen to her, she wanted to give the money to her parents as a sign of filial respect.

Yu Tong pondered all this carefully before opening the deceased’s online account.

After he logged in, several offline messages instantly materialised.

BBQ:

I saw the news

I will definitely help you, I know who you are

I have always been making plans for you

Idiot, airhead

What can you do if you’re dead

I will definitely help you

With everything else

Yu Tong checked the list of people online. The person with the name BBQ was offline.

As he searched through other logs, he called Jiu Shen, who had returned to the office. “Could you help me trace this…Mm, you saw it too, didn’t you? Yes, that BBQ.” After hearing the other person answer that they were already trying to trace it, Yu Tong hung up after a few final instructions.

The conversation logs bothered him. They really bothered him.

The deceased had used the word “them” to describe the assault, not “him”, which meant there were at least two perpetrators. For a girl this young to have been attacked by two people…

“Excuse me.”

A soft and gentle female voice came from behind. Yu Tong spun around and saw a very beautiful woman standing at the doorway, her developed figure indicating that she was of mixed blood. This was the neighbour living left of the deceased’s place, a single woman. He had already met her on the first day during the basic interrogation process. Her name was Tang Yu Yao; she had moved here a few months ago.

“I saw that the door wasn’t closed and thought there was a thief.” She smiled elegantly and shook the two canned drinks in her hands. “Mr. Cop, can you accept a drink from a civilian while on duty?”

“That’s…” Before Yu Tong could finish speaking, the other person had already walked in by herself and placed the peach tea in his hands.

“Thanks for your hard work. Although I really want to call you Little Cop, I heard two days ago that you guys aren’t young. You maintain yourself so well.” Tang Yu Yao sat down next to him with a smile. “Are the police all so hardworking nowadays? I thought this had already been closed as a suicide case?”

“No comment, sorry.” Yu Tong answered with a smile as he switched off the computer screen. He caught a whiff of bleach and shook the drink. “Thank you for your drink, but I will have to request for you to leave. Please do not interfere with the case.”

Tang Yu Yao shrugged. “Alright. Being the civilians’ nanny really is hard work.” She pulled the ring from the drink on the table and tapped the can. “But staring at a computer for too long isn’t good. Make sure you rest as needed.”

“Thank you for your concern.”

Yu Tong made certain the woman left before continuing to look through the computer.

For some reason, he kept hearing something bumping against the window curtains.

To eliminate distraction, Yu Tong stood and walked over to close the window. However, after approaching it, he discovered that the window had been tightly shut the entire time. The curtains that had been fluttering just now slowly fell.

He unconsciously touched the edge of the sealed window. It was a very ordinary apartment window with a small flower terrace outside that had many cute potted flowers and plants arranged there. Just from a quick look, he could tell there were at least a dozen different types there, which made it easy for him to imagine how carefully the deceased had taken care of these small things.

“…Bonsai?” Yu Tong stared blankly at the neatly placed, green bonsai plants there.

Suddenly, he realised in alarm that they might have been mistaken about something. Just as he was about to call Jiu Shen to confirm, he looked up and spotted a reflection on the glass. The door behind him had opened a crack, a silhouette standing there watching him.

“Come in!”

The door instantly slammed shut. By the time Yu Tong rushed over, the person was already nowhere to be seen. There was nothing in the vacant hallway or stairwell.

Then, he heard the curtains fluttering once more.

***

“Boss.”

When Yu Xia rushed back to the police station to grab something, the group that had been dispatched in the morning ran over. “The surveillance footage from the market you requested was transferred over. It was as you said; the deceased paced up and down the aisles for a very long time that day, checking out approximately half an hour later. The front desk [camera] recorded the time when she paid and left.”

“Ok, got it.” Yu Xia nodded, but just as he was about to make a call, he noticed his colleague’s hesitant expression. “Is there something else?”

“Isn’t this a suicide case?” Xiao Wu scratched his head in confusion. “It’s not in our scope either. Why did you suddenly want to check these, Boss?” Their group had multiple cases more urgent than this one in their hands, yet Yu Xia had been running in and out these past few days to keep investigating this unsuspicious suicide incident. The rest of the group found it bizarre; the tailing group was still waiting for their boss to allocate them outside.

Moreover, they had heard that due to additional implications with the suicide victim’s family, a legislative member had run over just before Yu Xia had arrived, slamming the table and demanding for their director. The person had claimed something along the lines of Boss having stupidly offended his friend, that the police was supposed to protect civilians and allow them to peacefully do their business. They had all heard the legislative representative’s furious howls from outside the office, and after a long while, the director had eventually sent him off with an extremely ugly expression.

There were quite a few people that had come to the station to complain about Yu Xia before. Based on the past incidents where most of them would end up being suppressed by the higher-ups, this would likely be the case once again.

However, that person just now had been viciously angry, causing others to run over and ask if their boss had prodded more trouble. They had sympathetically told the group to be more careful so as not to get dragged in as well.

“Why do you care so much? You guys just need to handle your own tasks. Whatever happens has nothing to do with you guys.” Yu Xia accepted a CD being passed over to him as he listened to the story of the legislative representative banging the table and complaining. Yu Xia sneered, “He’s seriously asking to die.”

“Is it really alright?” Xiao Wu was a bit concerned as he asked. “What if they set the reporters off about you again?” Their boss had clearly not done anything wrong, yet constantly being publicized about like this made it impossible for him to get promoted despite his amazing achievements. His contribution was also constantly being constrained by various warnings, which the entire group believed was extremely unfair.

“Relax, worst case I’ll just quit, and if I quit, I can go teach him a lesson without a worry.” Yu Xia spun the CD in his hand as he realised that this did not seem bad at all. “No guarantees on what he’ll be like after being disciplined, but I wouldn’t want to make things difficult for you guys so I’d definitely make sure the act isn’t traceable, don’t worry.”

This time, Xiao Wu prayed with all his heart that the opposing party would not idiotically report to the media this time, since Yu Xia was the type that could always carry out his words. In addition, he had the vague feeling that his boss must have been hanging out with the forensic investigator’s group for a long while now to have actually considered how to play his cards. In the past, Yu Xia would have just directly beaten his target up until they were crying for their parents!

“OK, hurry up and go do your work!” Yu Xia chased the person away, then grabbed his things to leave. The instant he turned around, he just happened to see his brother walk in.

“The surveillance footage from the building.” Yu Tong passed over the bag of disks in his hand.

“What’s wrong with you?” Yu Xia frowned as he saw the other person’s poor complexion.

“Nothing, I probably just stared at the computer for too long, I’m a bit dizzy.” Yu Tong shook his head and massaged his temples. Then he immediately thought of something else. “Oh no, I left the drink at the scene.” It was unfathomable for him to make such a mistake.

“Drink?”

“Mm, the neighbour next door brought it over so I took a sip. I was probably too spaced out from thinking about the contents of the computer so I forgot to bring the drink out with me when I left. I’ll give you my written report later,” Yu Tong said in a slightly apologetic tone. He then checked the time and asked, “Where are you going?”

“Going to see how the testimonies from the Tan family and that Boss Luo are going, then go back and circle around the area near the deceased’s home again.” Once he finished all his tasks, Yu Xia planned on using his spare time in the evening to also pay a visit to the location of another case he was currently pursuing. “I probably won’t be home until very late tonight.”

“Got it. Oh, right, the balcony outside the deceased’s window…”

Before he could say anything else, their cellphones simultaneously rang without warning. When Yu Xia flipped it open, he discovered that it was from Xiao Wu, who had just left. Yu Tong found that his was from the hospital.

They dubiously exchanged a look with each other before answering their own respective phones.

“Hello—”

***

The red light of the surgery room was harsh to the eye.

Yu Yin glanced at the unperturbed Dong Feng sitting near him. In contrast, Yu Yin was extremely anxious. That child had not been breathing for a period of time on the ambulance and had nearly died.

He felt powerless, an emotion he had experienced countless times just today alone. He then belatedly realised it was pitch-dark outside; it was already midnight.

Yu is probably…fine?

Yu Yin only now remembered that he needed to call Ah Fang. When he walked outside the hospital, he discovered that Ah Fang had already called him several times. Yu Yin had not noticed at all in his rush to rescue the boy.

He gazed up at the dark sky outside the hospital as he dialled a number. Ah Fang quickly picked up.

“Your brother is still waiting for your cake, you know.” These were Ah Fang’s first words.

Yu Yin weakly answered with a bitter chuckle and asked Ah Fang to hand the phone over to Yu. He then explained everything that had just happened. There was no reply from the other end of the line, and when the explanation was finished, the cellphone was returned to Ah Fang. “I’m sorry for troubling you so much today. I’ll hurry over soon.”

“No worries. Your friend is also here, so you can swap with them to rest later.”

“Who…?” Yu Yin truly had no idea what friend had run over; he had not contacted anyone else aside from Yi Tai.

Some jumbled noises came from the other end, then it turned into a girl’s voice. “Ah Yu’s gēgē, you can take your time doing whatever you need to do and just leave things here to me. I’ve brought snacks with me to visit Ah Yu, cupcakes of sixteen different flavors. People that arrive late can go eat shit.”

“…Minors should hurry up and scram home.” Yu Yin huffed, having no idea why Fang Yi Xun had appeared.

“Don’t worry, my cousin is also here.” Fang Yi Xun giggled and explained, “Yi Tai-gē called my cousin. You can relax and go wherever, take your sweet time.”

“…” Yu Yin suddenly felt that the communication network that had formed between the now acquainted friend circles in his life was surprisingly powerful. Is it really powerful enough to call someone that you’re barely familiar with like that?

Whatever. If Teng Qi is there, then it really is a bit of a relief. Once Dad or Uncle finish their work, they’ll probably head over immediately and take turns watching Yu.

“Is that okay?” The cellphone returned to Ah Fang. “Or do you want me to stay another night? I don’t have anything to do either way.”

“It’s fine, those two are trustworthy friends. I’ll treat you to a meal in the future.”

“You’re welcome. Although I don’t know what you’re doing, be careful.” As a friend, Ah Fang could not help but voice these words.

“Got it.”

Yu Yin hung up the phone and let out a long sigh. He had ridden two ambulances today; it was a shame that they had not gone to the same hospital. This time, Yu would almost definitely hold the grudge. Yu Yin would need to carefully consider how to compensate.

He heard a faint sobbing come from the darkness of the night.

Then, ice-cold hands touched his neck, slowly reaching forward to caress his face.

I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.

I will do it…

I don’t want to die.

He lifted his hands to see crimson blood slowly spread out from his palms.

Complete exhaustion suddenly flooded through him. The crying instantly magnified, so loud that his head was now in great pain. The pain gradually expanded so that every part of his body was throbbing.

Something cold seemed to be stuck on his back.

He could not move. All he could do was watch the fresh blood gush out from his hands, his vision blacking out. Amidst the darkness, he saw black hair, dripping wet and tangled in a mess, slowly falling down in lumps from above. Then a festering, white forehead dripping with scarlet, bloodied flesh fell bit by bit as well. An upside-down face gradually materialized in front of him, its red eyes staring straight into his.

In that moment, his world became inverted.

Then, everything went dark again. There was no longer anything to be seen.

He knew someone was sobbing, crying without end. The resentment and regret would never be eradicated.

Don’t want to die…

From the haziness, a chilly hand touched Yu Yin’s face.

He was very tired, very weary, but the person’s hands cupped his face, forcing him to open his eyes.

The girl from before was crouched in front of him. Her beautiful fingers gently lowered him and she opened her mouth to wordlessly point towards a certain direction in the darkness.

The crying had already vanished.

The urge to quickly go somewhere else replaced it.

Otherwise, it would be too late.

But he was truly exhausted. He really wanted to follow the direction, but it was impossible to move his body. He could only watch the girl shake her head at him with a sorrowful expression.

You cannot save everyone.

It was a sigh of complete helplessness.

He abruptly saw two pale-faced children appear by the girl’s side, the darkness slowly swallowing their figures.

No, I can’t let her bring them away.

He fought to reach his hand out, only managing to grasp a coldness before he lost consciousness.

When Yu Yin awoke, he saw a mummy-like face.

Honestly speaking, seeing this kind of skeleton first thing upon waking was not exactly a joyous thing. However, when he turned and saw Yu Xia’s fierce expression, he instantly decided that turning back to look at the skeleton’s face was much better.

“Ah Yin.” A low voice coldly came from Yu Xia, who had not slept the entire night. “Turn back here.”

Yu Yin braced himself and turned his head back, trembling in fear as he looked at his uncle. “Um…what happened to me?”

“Fainted, suspected to have acute bleeding, still investigating the cause.” From his seat next to the sick bed, Dong Feng pointed at the bandages around Yu Yin’s hands. “The hospital security discovered you collapsed at the hospital entrance covered in blood.”

“…Where’s Dad?” Yu Yin sincerely asked, deciding not to face the question about the blood for now.

“Over with Yu. What the hell are you two up to! How did Xiao Yu get into a car accident too? What did you take him with you to do? Didn’t I tell you two not to run around!” Yu Xia was completely shouting by the end and was just short of strangling Yu Yin.

“I’ll explain that later.” Yu Yin coughed when he saw the terrifying face of the King of Hell then hurriedly asked Dong Feng, “How’s Xu Zhi Gao?” He clearly remembered what he had seen before losing consciousness and was extremely afraid that the little boy could not be saved.

“Stabilized, but he has severe internal bleeding so these next few days will be a dangerous period.” Dong Feng calmly answered in a reciting tone, “A fatal cerebral hemorrhage.”

“Damn it…” Yu Yin could not care about what he had seen anymore. The only thing he hoped for was that the child could survive.

“Did you know that Xu Zhi Gao’s old man was on drugs?” Yu Xia furrowed his brows when he saw Yu Yin seem to be blaming himself. “We checked his criminal records; he’s been arrested many times for taking drugs.”

“Hm? I didn’t know.” Yu Yin stared blankly for a moment before glancing at Dong Feng. “You knew?” He recalled the other person having asked something like, “Did you just take a shot”, which had caused the man to blow up.

Dong Feng nodded. “Nothing shady. His arms were covered in needle bruises and his mood was unstable. Plus there was a strange odor on his body.”

“Ah…” Yu Yin suddenly understood.

“Bruises can cover needle holes.” Yu Xia crossed his arms. “Many drug addicts do it.”

Yu Yin had indeed heard Yu Tong and Yu Xia mention such a thing before and nodded in understanding. He had honestly not noticed at the time. “Xu Zhi Gao and Ye Yi apparently saw something.” He relayed the conversation with Ye Yi to the taut-faced Yu Xia with Dong Feng also listening on the side.

“Xu Zhi Gao is currently in a coma and is not yet out of danger. We’ll need Ye Yi to speak as soon as possible.” Yu Xia pondered over the possibility of them being witnesses and picked up his cellphone to call the station.

During this gap, Yu Yin curiously asked Dong Feng next to him, “How did you know to look for those two?”

“At the time of the incident, they were frantically running out. I asked the building guard, who said they were not residents,” Dong Feng replied. “Their expressions were too panicked, it was abnormal. Maybe you can get their shoes from their families and compare the shoeprints in the hallway leading to the stairwell or elevator. You might find something. The building surveillance cameras probably caught them too.”

Yu Xia, who was currently listening to a report, raised a brow and transferred Dong Feng’s words over to ask the group to bring Jiu Shen over to that building again.

About five minutes later, Yu Xia finally hung up and turned towards the two youths. “We’ve already obtained the building’s security camera footage. Xiao Wu and the others are looking through it right now and just said that there were no issues with it during the days around the incident. And putting aside the jump incident, we highly suspect that the [restaurant] owner below the Tan family was involved in sexual assault, and have already received confirmation from the guards that Boss Luo had gone in and out of the building multiple times while mentioning that he was looking for Tan Ya Yun.”

“Time?” Dong Feng inquired.

“It started two or three months ago. The people at the station are currently filtering out the useful footage. At the moment, we know that there weren’t any abnormalities this week; Boss Luo didn’t go looking for her either.” Yu Xia could feel his anger growing whenever he recalled that person. When he had been heading over to the hospital, the captain and director had specifically called to tell him not to go back to the station today because the other person had brought a legislative representative to stir up trouble. The higher-ups wanted him to avoid everything for now while they helped control the issue.

He had actually really wanted to return to the station the minute he had picked up the phone call so that he could beat up both Luo Qiang and the legislative representative into pulp.

“There are at least two offenders of the sexual assault,” Dong Feng suddenly said thoughtfully. “Boss Luo used some kind of information to threaten the deceased, so he is the second one.”

Yu Xia raised his brows. He had not told Dong Feng of the statements made yesterday nor the results that Yu Tong had found.

“The timing points to it having started half a year ago, but Boss Luo only appeared in the past two or three months. So if the sexual assault is established, it means there are at minimum two offenders.” Dong Feng was too lazy to explain in much detail, so he chose the simplest words. “But when the deceased died, he was in his restaurant, wasn’t he? Which means he was not the perpetrator.”

“Then who do you think was the perpetrator?”

Dong Feng stared at Yu Xia for a few seconds, his scarred fingers clutching the bed sheets. “…Someone from the same building.”

“You…” Just as Yu Xia was about to continue questioning, his cellphone suddenly went off. Glancing at Dong Feng, he stood up and walked outside with his phone, his tone of voice gradually turning solemn.

Yu Yin studied the contemplative Dong Feng and carefully asked, “Do you know who killed her?”

“I would have to go to the scene to confirm.” Dong Feng hesitated for a beat before slowly continuing, “But I do not want to help.”

“What does that mean?” Yu Yin crawled up from the bed. The exhaustion had long since faded, just like it had been two days prior.

“In this kind of world, what’s the point even if you knew the perpetrator?” Dong Feng cocked his head to the side, his tone cold. “The chances of the criminal repeating the offence is extremely high, and it isn’t as if the killer’s family would end up dead. There are few people that would feel sincere regret. Even if they were punished, it would not bring justice to the victim. In most cases, the family ends up tangled with the assaulter for many years, repeatedly going to court and having an outsider judge for death; but several years, and even decades will pass, and the assaulter will still be alive. The family can only endure attack after attack. If the family is made to believe she committed suicide from the beginning, they will just feel upset about her killing herself and their mental states will slowly heal over the years, and the longing will fade. Uncovering such an unbearable reality hidden behind will just increase the harm. You are all magnifying the pain they must endure. Isn’t that strange?”

“I don’t think the truth should be concealed, and we all know she did not commit suicide.” Yu Yin finally understood why Li Zi Hong had described Dong Feng as very dark. He did not agree with anything Dong Feng said; this method of thinking was excessively negative. “She didn’t want to die.”

“Many people that die don’t want to die. I’ve pursued them before, gathering the evidence in order to help. But despite knowing the criminal’s identity, they still continue evading retribution. I no longer wa